


New Living Arrangements

by afteriwake



Series: Simple As It Should Be [28]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 13:03:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time for both couples to make a big change in residences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Living Arrangements

Kaile had a week until her lease was up, and, truth be told, she wanted a new place. She’d been looking, trying to find something, but nothing felt comfortable, felt like home. She was over at Danny’s, telling him about the housing hunt while he was making dinner.

"You know," he said as he looked around her place, "you could always move in with me."

She stilled slightly. Danny making a commitment to date her and her exclusively was one thing. Danny offering to let her move in was another. "Are you serious here?"

"Yeah, I'm serious. Why wouldn't I be? We spend more time together than we do apart at this point, and you _seem_ to like my apartment. And it's bigger than this one, or any of the others you've looked at."

She turned and looked at him, saw the slightly hurt look on his face. "Please tell me that me wondering if you were serious wasn't a blow to that ego of yours. I just...I've had my own place for so long now, and so have you. Moving in is a big step."

"You have, what, a week to really buckle down and find a place?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Take the time to think about it." He shrugged. "It won't hurt us one way or the other if you say no."

She walked over to him, stood eye-to-eye with him. "I don't need to think about it. I'll move in with you."

He grinned. She had no idea how relieved he was to know he hadn't offered to make the biggest step he'd ever made with _anyone_ he'd dated only to have it rebuffed. "Good."

"Yeah," she said with a grin of her own. "Good."

\---

"She's moving in with me," Danny said two mornings later as he and Flack were playing a pick-up game of basketball. Flack stood still in the middle of the court and Danny easily maneuvered around him and put the ball in the hoop.

"If that was some kind of trick to make the basket, Messer, it worked."

"No trick, no joke." He shrugged, then began tossing the ball from one hand to another. "We're both spending most of our off time together, so I figured I'd make the suggestion."

"No kidding? When's she moving in?" Flack asked.

"As soon as we're done with this game, actually," he said. "I get to spend the day moving her stuff into my place instead of at work." He grinned. "Could be interesting, living with someone." He tossed the ball to Flack, who held onto it instead of tossing it back. "Why aren't you and Lindsay living together yet? You two have been together longer than I've been with Kaile."

He shrugged. "I don't know. I think we both want our space."

"Try and get a three bedroom and each of you take another room and make it yours," Danny said, giving Flack a look that said "why didn't you think of that before _I_ did?" and following it with an eloquent shrug. "Isn't there a three bedroom at your complex that's open now?"

"Yeah..." Flack had gotten the information for Maka a few days before on all the open apartments in his building, even the three bedroom which he was sure she wasn't going to want. "It's still open, I think."

"Well, there you go. You live closer to the labs than Lindsay does, your landlord loves you so he may cut you a deal...I say you have a serious talk with your girl over this before the opportunity goes away." He nodded to the basketball in Flack's hands. "Now, are we still playing or what?"

\---

They had talked about moving in together rather tentatively for about a month before it became something they both considered. They were spending more time together; it was a rare night that one of their apartments wasn't empty all night because it's main occupant was staying elsewhere.

But staying over and still having a place to go to for privacy versus actually _living_ together...neither of them were completely sure that they were ready, so it just remained a topic of conversation for a while. He planned to broach the idea to her that evening, after she got off work. He had checked earlier and yes, the apartment was still open and yes, the landlord would definitely cut them a very good deal; he was not going to pass up two detectives in the same building and he had a soft spot for Lindsay, considering he was also from Montana.

Flack had hoped she'd say yes. Even a maybe would be great at that point. And he'd spent the whole day doubting that she would.

She let herself into his apartment quietly, but since he was on the couch in the living room he heard her before she even got to the door. She looked tired, but not exhausted, and not angry. She looked at him, gave him a wan smile and closed the door behind her.

"Busy day?"

"Oh, you would have known firsthand if you'd brought your phone with you, wherever you were. Mac spent an hour trying to call you in."

"Crap," Flack said. "He's not upset, is he?"

She shook her head. "Got someone else to come in and cover."

"Not Maka or Danny, right?"

"Nope. Don't know who, but Stella knew him." She shrugged. "Why didn't you have your phone with you, anyway?" She went over to the couch and sat down next to him. "I mean, I know you weren't exactly on call, but..."

He took a breath. "I was talking to someone about an apartment."

"Oh." She looked at him. "I thought it wasn't a definite thing we were planning for."

"Hear me out. There's a three bedroom here. Not much increase in rent if we try and get it, and that way you and I each have our own space in the apartment."

She tilted her head. "Who thought of that?"

"If I was smart, I'd say I thought it first, but Danny suggested it this morning." He shrugged. "If you don't want to, that's fine, but I just thought..."

"What?"

"I was starting to wonder if you didn't want to live with me because you're too attached to your place."

She looked at him for almost a full minute before she started to laugh. "Oh...is that? You thought?" She couldn't complete a sentence before she'd erupt into laughter again. He waited a little impatiently for her to finish. "No," she said after she was able to compose herself, "I'm not attached to my place. I thought you were going to say you thought I didn't want to move in because I didn't love you, and I'm glad you didn't say that, because I do, and--"

"You're rambling," he said, a smile on his face.

She shook her head. "Sorry about that."

He looked at her. "You realize you just told me you loved me for the first time, right?"

She thought about it for a minute; he was pretty sure she was rewinding what she'd said. "I did, didn't I? Not exactly how I wanted that to come _out_ , but..."

"I love you too, you know."

She stopped for a moment. Then she grinned, probably the widest grin he'd seen on her face in months. "Good." She leaned over and kissed him, a long and energetic kiss which he was more than happy to receive. When she pulled away, her eyes were sparkling. "So...let's talk about the apartment."


End file.
